For a lot of us, up until now the road map of life was pretty clear. We learn early on that you go to school. From kindergarten to grade 12 and later on maybe to undergrad and beyond. But there will be a time when the education stage of your life makes way for your professional life, and that’s when things can get a bit confusing. Where do you go from here? How are all those years in school going to help you get where you want to go? Here’s a few ways to put all that education to work.

One of the first things I learned is that your major in college doesn’t really limit you to a job in that same field. I was a mathematical sciences major, but my first job out of college dealt with intellectual property consulting. Although there is some number crunching involved, there were few chances to put my knowledge of differential equations and game theory to use. So if you see a job that interests you, don’t let a little thing like your major stop you from submitting an application.

When you finally get a job, one thing you’ll probably realize is that most of what you learn in college won’t translate directly to what you’ll do at your job. It should come as no surprise that the advanced theories and techniques you were so arduously tested on will not play a commonplace role in the office. That can be a bit of a letdown for some people who were expecting to do a lot more with that degree. But remember, not everything you need to know in life comes in a nice big textbook for easy reading.

While it’s true that you’re not likely to make direct use out of many of the things you learned, school did force you to take in new information and make use of it effectively. You became more responsible and organized. You learned how to work well on your own, as well as in groups. You picked up on how to make friends and network. These are all important traits when you are starting a new project, given more responsibilities, or receive a promotion.

How Not to Flunk Your First Post-Grad Job is a good article that goes over many things that people new to the workforce should pay attention to, such as asking questions and networking.